With his choice to deal with lust for another man on his new record, "Channel Red," 24-year-old Frank Ocean has become something other than one of the most powerful R&B performers and lyricists of the last half-decade: He's become, for when, one of the first to task a category known for its citrus intolerance of homosexuality.

The record was long awaited, arriving on the pumps of Shoreline's seriously recommended selection from last season, "Nostalgia, Super," and the sex-related material — which areas on two music — has so far obtained quite soothing therapy. Frank Ocean, blessed Captain christopher Breaux, came out a music on "Late Evening With Jimmy Fallon"on Thursday only time before launching the record on iTunes, and got a heated party. Several celebrities have also provided assistance on Tweets and in the press, such as Beyoncé and Russell Simmons.

On the new record, the youthful MC says "he" rather than "she" on the music "Bad Religion" and "Forrest Gump," and a few times after beginning testers started thinking about the lines, he released a observe on his web page punctuation it out: Particularly, he dropped in really like with a man, and then made the choice to perform about it on this new record.

But the sexual themes, ultimately, are little more than a red herring — some would even say a publicity stunt, timed to draw attention to the album's release — when it comes to the overall beauty of "Channel Orange."

A concept album filled with as many stories and observations about modern-day Southern California life as theBeach Boys'"Surfin' Safari" did in 1962, the album offers a vivid snapshot of the twentysomething experience in Los Angeles. Ocean is a young artist with an ear for thoughtful, brave, witty, imaginative storytelling, a strong voice and keen sense of the world in which he's found himself. His is a city he describes in "Sweet Life" as "domesticated paradise, palm trees and pools, whatever feels good," a new home that has changed him in ways that he outlines throughout the album.

Frank Ocean moved to L.A. in 2005 and joined the L.A. hip-hop collective Odd Future in 2009, and also signed to Def Jam Records as a solo artist that year to record "Nostalgia, Ultra." In early 2011, when the record sat on the label's shelf for too long, a frustrated Ocean, who had made inroads as a songwriter and worked with Justin Bieber and John Legend, released "Nostalgia, Ultra" as a free download on his Tumblr site. It drew raves and he had a hit song with "Novacane," a witty track about a hook-up after Coachella involving a dental assistant, and the release landed on many critics' best of 2011 lists (including mine). He sang memorable hooks on Jay-Z and Kanye West's album, "Watch the Throne," where his tenor played the perfect foil in the chorus to "No Church in the Wild." At one point Def Jam was going to finally release "Nostalgia, Ultra," but decided against it.

Smart move. Ocean went back into the studio, and the result is a quiet, if tempestuous, storm, filled with muffled beats, whispers, perfectly placed arrangements, enough space within songs that each note is clear and present, and an overarching theme that confirms that its creator has an artistic vision that reaches beyond the gender of his desire.